Bozeman, Montana, USA
January 10, 2024
Zach Thibault, LCS Regional Commercial Manager for the Mountain West
Zach Thibault is excited to introduce more farmers to Limagrain Cereal Seeds (LCS) varieties. The newest LCS regional commercial manager brings an ag upbringing and 5+ years in the seed business to the new Mountain West region covering Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
Thibault grew up on his family’s farm in southern Idaho. His earliest memories revolve around helping on the farm — getting off the school bus at the potato cellar instead of home to pick out dirt clods and helping tend to the Black Angus cows.
“Growing up on a farm is the best childhood ever,” he says. “I think you learn a lot of life lessons, and I’ll value that for the rest of my life.”
Coming back to the family farm was always part of Thibault’s master plan, but first he wanted to expand his life experiences. Higher education led him to Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash., where he studied business management. Beyond the basics of business theory and supply chain management, college trained Thibault to examine situations from multiple perspectives and see the big picture — a skill that would drive his career in agriculture.
Thibault was introduced to the seed business right after graduation. He landed a job at Circle S Seeds and quickly rose from logistics to royalty reporting to operations management. It was there that Thibault first became aware of LCS wheat and barley varieties.
“I know the importance of raising quality crops,” says Thibault. “At the end of the day, that’s what’s going to give the best return on investment.”
When he heard LCS was launching a new region to better serve the farmers of Montana, Utah and Wyoming, he was all in. At Circle S Seeds, he had seen a lot of dealer-to-dealer business. Helming the sales efforts for the Mountain West region gives him the opportunity to see, and serve, a bigger audience.
“I’m excited to get to know the battles of individual growers in the area and bring them products that will put more money in their pockets,” he says, “Whether through yield increase, quality increase or introducing pulses as a rotational crop that adds nutrients to the ground.”
Given the time of year, Thibault’s first order of business will be introducing new LCS hard red spring wheat varieties to local farmers:
- LCS Ascent is a big yielder that looks beautiful in the field and has an excellent disease package and high test weight.
- LCS Dual packs a one-two punch of yield and protein, plus a superb disease package and exceptionally strong straw.
- LCS Buster, named for its bin-busting, trial-topping yield, also has very strong straw and good tolerance to head scab.
- LCS Hammer AX is the first LCS CoAXium spring wheat variety on the market, giving farmers control over cheatgrass, foxtail and other grassy weeds.
The LCS Mountain West variety portfolio also includes conventional and CoAXium hard red winter wheat, as well as malting and forage barley. Pulses will be available in the coming year.
Traveling across the vast wheat acres of Montana to the forage-focused landscapes of Wyoming, Thibault enjoys building on his established relationships and making new connections. “Being outside, walking fields, talking to growers — that’s motivating,” says Thibault. It’s also the avid outdoorsman’s favorite place to be. When he isn’t in the field, he can be found in the water fishing, in the woods hunting or out on the links working on his golf swing.
Topics
Species
